The Launch Of Russia's New 'Silent' Sub Is Just One Step In Rebuilding Its Mighty Military

Russia recently launched its near silent nuclear submarine
following several years of development.

The Borey
Class submarine, dubbed Vladimir Monomakh, has a next
generation nuclear reactor, can dive deeper than 1,200 feet, and
carries up to 20 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles
(ICBM).

Each of
these "Bulava" ICBM's can carry ten detachable
MIRV warheads, what they call "re-entry vehicles," capable of
delivering 150 kiloton yields per warhead (luckily, tests of the
warheads only yielded 11 "successes" out of almost 20 attempts).
Which doesn't mean they aren't a concern, MIRV's are what shook
the Cold War to its foundation when they first appeared in the
1970s.

And the Kremlin's not dissuaded or slowing down with plans to
build eight additional Borey's over the next year, at a very
reasonable cost of about $700 million each.

Russia's currently engaged in its largest Naval exercise "in
decades," involving four of its fleets — maneuvering within the
Black Sea, Baltic Sea, and the Northern and Pacific Oceans. The
exercise is an
attempt to strengthen its presence in the Mediterranean.